Impending war affects Muslims

Despair and despondency has descended on Muslims throughout the world.

As the most destructive bombs and artillery ever made in history are about to level Baghdad and wreck havoc on the rest of Iraq, Muslims are weeping and despairing and praying.

Children will be buried alive by the ‘mother of all bombs’. Mothers and fathers will be helpless to protect their families é and what greater agony can there be for a parent than being unable to protect one’s family.

The United Nations estimates 900,000 will flee the country; estimates from other groups put this number as high as two million.

An ominous pall hovers over Iraq. The people go about their daily lives é a surreal scene indeed.

“So long as there is sun, there is life,” Khadiga, an Iraqi woman, said.

Muslims feel helpless as the lands so revered in the annals of their history are about to be occupied and reshaped in the image of George W. Bush. They fear that this war is the beginning of an imperial occupation of the region. Images of a crusading army approaching are being replayed in the minds of Muslims throughout the world.

And there is apprehension this war will create an environment that will trigger acts of desperation and extremism and unleash catastrophic consequences that will be engulf the world.

War preparations are going on throughout the world. Muslims in North America are also preparing. Safety kits are being sent out to mosques and organizations on how to deal with religious or ethnic profiling or bias-related hate crimes; and on establishing crisis counseling and dealing with emergencies within the community.

However, it is through prayer that Muslims are turning to find solace and to bear the unbearable with patient perseverance.

“O Allah! Accept our supplications on behalf of the people of Iraq in their hour of trial; and save us from oppressing and being oppressed, from ignorance and from the ignorance of others against us.”

Muneeb Nasir is the Editor of IMPRINT, a Toronto-based Muslim newspaper and editor of the Muslim Canadian web site, www.Islam.ca). He contributed above article to Media Monitors Network (MMN).